Welcome to Things I Tried—a blog for honest reviews and firsthand experiences with restaurants, software and some products.
I am a married middle-aged dad with a day job. My wife sometimes contributes, but she has an even tougher day job. I am open to contributions from others.
This site uses a few affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through my links—at no extra cost to you.
I have yet to earn a dime, but I am having fun. I’ll let you know if/when that changes.
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- Spicy Noodle House
Saturday night, about 6:30 pm we tried Spicy Noodle House in Kearny Mesa. It had been on my list for a while ever since seeing this review on mmm-yoso. The reason that review called to me is strange, and I won’t try to explain it. Suffice to say I am attracted to strange things for… Read more: Spicy Noodle House
- Leads Automation: Using Old-School blog freshness estimate
This is a continuation of my last post “Leads Automation: Using LLM to estimate webpage freshness“ In that post I used a function estimate_last_update_with_llm(url) to grab the contents of a webpage—or at least the first 5000 characters—and send them off to ChatGPT 4o to try to ascertain how old it thought the blog was. It… Read more: Leads Automation: Using Old-School blog freshness estimate
- Silence of the Alarms: My Airhood Rescue Story
Cooking in our house has always been a bit of an adventure—one that usually ends with the blaring sound of smoke alarms. No matter what I try to cook in a frying pan, the alarms seem inevitable. Even with the range hood on full blast, making a simple steak or burger is a guaranteed way… Read more: Silence of the Alarms: My Airhood Rescue Story
- Frozen Planet 2: Edutainment for the Whole Family
I have always have a soft spot for educational programming of all kinds. I struggle to get my family watch with me, but recently I had success with BBCs 2022 “Frozen Planet 2” I will confess. I didn’t spring it on them right away. I watched the entire six-episode series all by myself before trying… Read more: Frozen Planet 2: Edutainment for the Whole Family